Sort-of remembering a comics artist
Dave Cockrum dies at 63
One of my most memorable summers as a kid was in 1993, when I read my mother's entire comic book collection. She had maybe 12 boxes of bagged and boarded comics, which I obsessively methodically read, admired and reread. Mostly Marvel, with a few first edition Image comics (we have Spawn 1-13, look upon us and despair!), the collection included Classic X-Men, reprints of the books drawn by Dave Cockrum that regenerated the X-franchise back in the '70s. When I finished those, I moved on to the Uncanny X-Men issues that continued the story, and on to New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, adjectiveless X-Men, X-Force, Cable.... Back when they all had a more coherent continuity than, perhaps, now.
Gosh, it was quite a ride. After a while I got to the point where I could glance at the art on a page or cover and instantly know who had produced it. After that summer, in fact, I took an interest in figure drawing and had a pretty good time sketching muscular guys in tights and busomy women. For a bored 12-year-old, comics made a great hobby, one that led to a long flirtation with art that was very fulfilling while it lasted. Later, when I first tried out the Internet, one of my first search terms was "X-Men comics," and one of my first pages viewed was a fansite.
Just the other day, I came across a comics rack in the supermarket and couldn't help flipping through some issues. Walked away with a silly grin on my face, feeling like a little kid again.
Never remembered Cockrum by name, more taken by artists like Alan Davis and Jim Lee, for instance, but his art is familiar and generates nostalgic feelings in me. More than that, as one of the first creators of the "all-new, all-different" X-Men, the series that actually took off, he deserves a lot of credit. (I mean, come on, he's the reason we have Nightcrawler, for one thing.) He and writer Chris Claremont created a world that was complex, exciting, often funny, motivational, sometimes tragic, peopled by characters who have remained singular in my mind thirteen years later.
And so very cool, even though this may be my nerdiest post to date. And one that feels uncomfortably personal. It's weird to realize someone you never paid any attention to may have had an actual effect on your life, just by doing something as simple as revving up a franchise.
One of my most memorable summers as a kid was in 1993, when I read my mother's entire comic book collection. She had maybe 12 boxes of bagged and boarded comics, which I obsessively methodically read, admired and reread. Mostly Marvel, with a few first edition Image comics (we have Spawn 1-13, look upon us and despair!), the collection included Classic X-Men, reprints of the books drawn by Dave Cockrum that regenerated the X-franchise back in the '70s. When I finished those, I moved on to the Uncanny X-Men issues that continued the story, and on to New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur, adjectiveless X-Men, X-Force, Cable.... Back when they all had a more coherent continuity than, perhaps, now.
Gosh, it was quite a ride. After a while I got to the point where I could glance at the art on a page or cover and instantly know who had produced it. After that summer, in fact, I took an interest in figure drawing and had a pretty good time sketching muscular guys in tights and busomy women. For a bored 12-year-old, comics made a great hobby, one that led to a long flirtation with art that was very fulfilling while it lasted. Later, when I first tried out the Internet, one of my first search terms was "X-Men comics," and one of my first pages viewed was a fansite.
Just the other day, I came across a comics rack in the supermarket and couldn't help flipping through some issues. Walked away with a silly grin on my face, feeling like a little kid again.
Never remembered Cockrum by name, more taken by artists like Alan Davis and Jim Lee, for instance, but his art is familiar and generates nostalgic feelings in me. More than that, as one of the first creators of the "all-new, all-different" X-Men, the series that actually took off, he deserves a lot of credit. (I mean, come on, he's the reason we have Nightcrawler, for one thing.) He and writer Chris Claremont created a world that was complex, exciting, often funny, motivational, sometimes tragic, peopled by characters who have remained singular in my mind thirteen years later.
And so very cool, even though this may be my nerdiest post to date. And one that feels uncomfortably personal. It's weird to realize someone you never paid any attention to may have had an actual effect on your life, just by doing something as simple as revving up a franchise.